Thursday, May 26, 2016

I wish I could do more. My fav blogger and inspirational person, The Yarn Harlot, trains and then bikes 400 miles to raise money for AIDS, while knitting, writing, planning and hosting knitting events, and going on teaching/book tours. That's what I want to do. Only I don't bike ride. She says the same thing though. I suppose I would ride a bike, I don't spin in one of those bikes in the gym that don't move forward. I don't like any of those stationary machines. So. Boring.

I want to knit more. Did you know she knits socks AND a giant ass wedding shawl right now? I'm working on one tiny dress that has one GIANT problem. It took me weeks to fix it. Why so long? It was anxious work and I needed hours at a time to sit down and concentrate. That is sooo hard to come by. Hours with out tiny hands comign over and ripping whatever is in MY hands out and saying "Mommy, I want 'nack." I usually can get 15 min., more if I choose to sleep instead of work. And I always choose sleep. What happened to the dress? The Tiny Child decided to try it on while I was showering. She was so proud and happy of herself and it was the cutest thing I ever saw and I wanted to cry and scream and pull my hair at the same time. She pulled off about half the 210 stitches, and I had to go back and restring the whole thing, while trying to do it in pattern. It's a lace pattern...so it's all increases, decreases and yarn overs. I know that's redundant...yarn overs are increases! I went back a whole inch to where I was sure the lost stitches hadn't strung down to. Then I had to count 210 stitches while inserting my stitch markers...which I lost most of during all this time and work. So I had to make more. (just circles of yarn/fabric/whatever I have) Then I had to knit a round, and it turns out I was only 4 stitches short of my 210, what a blessing! I was sure I was going to be closer to 25 missing stitches. That first round I knit, I accidently did backwards, so since it's in the round, there were be a line in that spot where I knit where I should have purled, etc. I did NOT redo it. It'll just match all the dropped stitches I made previously in the yoke.

Today I shall go to the gym and walk one mile then lift my weights on my machines. Then I will spend one hour knitting. I recently joined the gym in town and they have daycare there for 2 hrs, as long as I don't leave the building. I guess this is like preparing for a charity excersize event and then knitting. Only there is no event and I will not do more than a brisk mile walk.

I should mention why I'm not pushing myself. I am in my second trimester of my second baby...I can't really do much more than one mile.

The Yarn Harlot does say that the keeping of her house is not always at it's cleanest. That's why she can do all those things. Also, the last of her three children left for college a year or two ago. That probably helps. I have to take notes of what I do now, so that when I have time in 15 yrs, I can write a book about it and go on book tours. I also have to get better at knitting.

Which is why I try to read knitting theory books. I don't like books with just patterns...I mean, I can get those for free online. But you can't find books that explain why you K2T vs SSK or why the way stitches lay on the needle is important, or how you decide what is the right or wrong side of your knitting.

Hells. I haven't even ventured into shaping! I think that will be my hardest (how to customize a pattern to fit my measurements), as it will require either, great intuition (what my mom has) or precise math (what I will use...and make many mistakes).